Scenes of Everyday Life
by Crystabel.Shalott
Summary: A series of drabbles about the lives of Sybil and Tom Branson, with some appearances of Edith and Sir Anthony and Mary and Matthew.
1. Christmas at the Branson's

_A/N: This is a drabble I wrote some time ago on tumblr for __**Odestalovebaby**_, _but now that I made this collection of one-shots I decided to include it._ _ Also I just decided to name Tom and Sybil's daughter Evelyn so if there are any 'Sybbie' in the story that I didn't change let me know_

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**Christmas at the Branson's:**

Outside the snow had begun to fall, and the wind was howling making the shutters rattle. In the last couple of days the temperatures dropped and in the sky dark clouds had gathered but only that morning the snow had begun to fall. Inside the cottage the air was filled with the smell of cinnamon and nuts, the fire crackled in the fireplace and the movement of the flames illuminated the small living room. It was cozy, with the small Christmas tree in one corner adorned with pine-cones and some fancy decorations borrowed from Downton Abbey, but what really made the picture beautiful were Sybil and her daughter working at the kitchen counter. Sybil kindly asked Mrs. Patmore for some flour and ingredients and put up her mind to make some Christmas cookies as a surprise for Tom. Evelyn of course had accepted the idea gladly and had been more than excited to make a surprise to her father, for when he got home from his meeting with Matthew about some new innovations in the managements of the cottages.

"Darling, don't eat all the dough otherwise there won't be anything left for the biscuits"

"And for daddy" replied seriously Evelyn, immediately dropping her spoon.

"And for daddy, and we don't want that, do we?"

"No we don't. What do we have to do next?"

"We have to make small balls with our hands and then flatten them, put them on the plaque and put them in the oven"

"Do you think daddy will like them? And that they will be ready for when he'll open the door?"

"I'm sure of it, my darling"

Evelyn put on her brightest smile and followed her mother's instructions carefully. She was having so much fun in the kitchen and she couldn't imagine a life without this, it strike her that her cousins didn't do the same. But her mother was special and the best mother one could have ever imagined.

Sybil took the plaque and put it in the oven, for a moment her mind wondered back to the days where Mrs. Patmore taught her how to cook and she made a cake for her mother. It seemed like an entire lifetime ago and it was: so many things had happened, she was a different person now, she was Sybil Branson and she was happily married with a five year old daughter. Sometimes she looked back at how her life used to be or how it could have been if Branson never arrived at Downton and she realized that she would have hated herself, just as she did when she was in her teen age years: her life would have never felt complete, she would have never had the chance to cook with her daughter or work as a nurse. And she couldn't imagine a life without Tom. Tom, everyday she loved him more and what his father described as a juvenile madness was in reality a deep love and nothing would have ever changed it: not the misadventure in Ireland not the disapproving glances her father still gave her.

"Mom? Can you read to me while we wait? Little women, if it's all right for you"

"Of course it is, we will make time pass quicker. Go and fetch the book, I'll wait here"

While Sybbie run to fetch the book, Sybil looked out of the window. She was worried that Tom would have caught all the snow on his way home, she hoped that Matthew would have let him go sooner in case they noticed what kind of weather was outside.

"Got it!"

Sybil took place on the old sofa, her daughter sitting on her nap, before starting reading she fixed the strings that were holding Evelyn's hair and then gave her a light kiss on the top of her head. Moments like this made her wish for another child, she and Tom tried a lot but until now nothing and despite the reassurances of the doctors who told her that there had been no repercussions since the operation she had since Evelyn's birth she couldn't help but wonder.

"Mom?"

"Yes. Sorry."

Sybil cleared her throat and begun.

_""Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug."It's so dreadful to be poor!" sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress."I don't think it's fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all," added little Amy, with an injured sniff."We've got Father and Mother, and each other," said Beth contentedly from her corner. The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, "We haven't got Father, and shall not have him for a long time." She didn't say "perhaps never," but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was."_

Sybil kept on reading, keeping an eye on the clock paying attention to how much time the cookies had been in the oven.

Tom was freezing to death, and he was getting soaked wet despite the umbrella he was given at Downton. A part from the snow, the wind was whipping his face. He couldn't have been happier at the sight of the cottage. He took the key from his pocket and opened the wooden door, The warmness and aroma that he met entering the cottage were a relief, and the sight of Sybil and their daughter in the kitchen fumbling with something were even more welcome. He smiled, and thought about the time he entered the kitchen of Downton to drink some tea and Sybil was baking a cake. It was still in the days when he worked as a chauffeur. He remembered the surprise of seeing her there but then again she was Sybil and she had always been full of surprises. She had always been a special and peculiar in her choices especially if one compared her with her sisters. And that's why he loved her.

"I'm back!" he said out loud.

"Dad!"

Evelyn run towards him and he took her in his arms.

"How are you?"

"Me and mom have a surprise for you!" she said happily.

"And what is it?"

"Can't tell you, it's a surprise!"

"Tom! You didn't freeze to death did you?"

"No, Matthew suggested to me to leave as soon as we saw that it started to snow"

"Mom, we have to show dad our surprise"

"Let him change first, we don't want him to be ill at Christmas do we? And we can set up everything so when he comes back it's all ready"

"That sounds marvelous" said Tom, while letting Evelyn down and then kissing his wife.

He left the others for just a moment, with the promise that it would have been him to prepare the tea. Although it was meant to be a surprise the smell in the air was unmistakable and he wanted to be helpful even though making tea wasn't exactly the same thing as baking, he wanted to help and not letting do Sybil all the work.

Sybil placed the last cup on the table while Evelyn took place on it, then they waited for Tom to reach them and it didn't take much until he arrived, filled the kettle and took place with them.

"So what's the surprise?"

"Christmas cookies! Dad, I helped making them" said Evelyn proudly.

"I am sure of it, little one. They look scrumptious"

"They are, we tried the dough a couple of times"

Tom smiled and took a biscuit from the plate "I wonder how it's possible that there was still dough left. You know Evelyn that many years ago your mother had to go to nursing school, and she asked Mrs. Patmore to teach her to cook. It had been quite a disaster at the beginning - and yes, we gossiped about it at dinner table - but then she improved and one day she was making a cake and they had to stop her from eating all the dough and the strawberries for the coverage"

Evelyn giggled while she pictured the image, she loved hearing about stories before her parents were married. They were so funny and full of adventure: secret friendship, casual encounters, afternoons spent with aunt Gwen and then her mom and dad against the world. It all seemed like a novel, something that might have happened in one of the books she loved so much.

"I wasn't a disaster! And I didn't eat all the dough"

"Darling you were, I saw you and as a matter of fact the fact that you couldn't fill a kettle had been source of laughter for an entire night. No offense meant"

"No offense taken, I laughed about myself too and I wrote about to Gwen who I am sure laughed too. Important thing was that I learned everything I needed"

"Did you really not know how to fill a kettle mom?" Evelyn giggled again.

"Yes, I didn't know it. There was never the need until I sign up for the nurse course I wanted to attend"

"But now you are one of the best cooks ever, isn't she dad?"

"Quite right so, even better than Daisy and Mrs. Patmore" stated Tom nodding.

"How flattering, even though I doubt I can cook as good as them. Anyway, news from the Abbey?"

"Please say we don't have to go there on Christmas day" murmured Evelyn. She felt uncomfortable whenever she was at her grandparent's house: it was so big and grand, imposing at moments and everyone was dresses with fine clothes and changed for the different hours of a day. No, she preferred staying at home with her parents and she loved it when they all eat dinner in their pajama and the only clothes that they changed were her mother from her nurse uniform to normal clothes and her father from his tweet suit to house clothes. And despite her very young age she could feel the coldness in her grandfather's voice whenever he spoke to Tom. No, she was sure that it was better to stay at home.

"Evelyn don't say such things" scolded her Sybil.

"No we don't have to go there. No one will be in the house: your parents called this morning and said they stay in Scotland for another week, Edith is still abroad with Sir Anthony and Matthew, Mary and George will go to Isobel. So yes, the Bransons will be on their own" said Tom with a smile. His voice was steady but there was an edge of exultation in it.

Sybil shook her head: first her daughter and now Tom too. She too wasn't really eager to spent time with all her family reunited, somehow they always managed to make someone feel uncomfortable for something which not necessary happened in recent times. It could be anything actually: her ideas, Tom's, Edith's marriage with sir Anthony, Matthew's ideas about the management of Downton…

"So it's official? It will be a Christmas spent at the Branson's cottage?"

"Yes! Christmas at the Bransons"


	2. A talk between Sisters

A/N: My contribution to the EAST alliance day. Enjoy!

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**A Talk between Sisters  
**

Sybil stood in front of Edith's door, she didn't know if her sister was already sleeping or if she was just lying on the bed her eyes wide open, excited for the next day. If Edith was a little bit alike her sister than she would have been awake, just as it happened to Sybil herself the night before her wedding: for hours all she could think about was that the next morning she would have become Mrs. Branson. She and Tom would have finally have been able to start their life together and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, that could have stopped them. Deep in the night all the memories about the moments she spent with Tom came back to her mind: as friends, as two people in love, as two engaged people. She thought about their conversations in the car during the journeys to Ripon, she thought about the by-election, the garden party when they held hands, the proposal in York. Sybil had been wondering about how much different her life would have been if she had admitted her feelings sooner and not after four years.

But was Edith doing the same thing? Was she thinking about her relationship with Sir Anthony?

_I won't sleep a wink_ that's what Edith had said earlier after dinner, but was she really awake or did her eyes close eventually? Sybil hoped that she was awake because she wanted to talk to her sister about nothing in particular, she just wanted to hear her thoughts and plans for the future. She wanted to hear story about her and Sir Anthony because the happy version of Edith was the version she liked best.

Sybil knocked delicately a couple of times and Edith answered her immediately, so she was awake for excitement too. Sybil grinned, for the first time in years her sister was about to be really happy again. It was wonderful. She opened the door and stepped in, Edith was sitting on the bed.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a whisper "Shouldn't you be with Tom?"

"He is fast asleep, he won't notice and before you say something I know I should rest too because of the baby but I just wanted to check on you first"

"You are always so nice with everyone Syb and most of the time, I don't deserve it" admitted Edith.

Edith was aware that in a larger picture she wasn't the nicest person in the world and she also knew that it was her fault the way she behaved. Sybil was the sweet spirit, the kind person and it all came natural whereas she and Mary well they were edgy and nasty for different reasons but at some point in her life Edith discovered that it came easier that way: being dislikable was a way to come to terms that no one really cared about her. As much as their parents tried to hide it everyone knew Mary was the favorite, followed by Sybil. She often ended in oblivion, forgotten and put aside in the blink of an eye. But Sybil was never fooled by her act and kept on liking her just as usual, something Edith did not fully understand but for which she was grateful to.

"Edith what you said is not true, so can I come in?"

"Of course you can. Come and sit near me"

_Just like the old days_ thought Sybil.

When they were still children she often sneaked into Edith's room at the middle of the night after a bad dream or when she just couldn't sleep. Always Edith and never Mary for no reason at all just that after a couple of times she did so it had become a routine. The two of them would lie together on Edith's bed, chat a little and then Edith would have made sure Sybil was fine and fast asleep before closing her eyes too.

Edith moved a little to the side making place for her sister and waited for Sybil to find a comfortable position.

"So what do you want to tell me?"

"I came here to hear some stories about you and Sir Anthony. Some gossip to light my day. Well night. I was just curious, we never had the chance to talk about him"

"What do you want to know?"

"I don't know, tell me everything"

There were a lot of things that Edith could have said, until a second ago she was just thinking about all the moments she spent with Anthony ever since the beginning which was when Lord and Lady Grantham invited him over for dinner to introduce him to Mary. But now, as she tried to turn those thoughts into words she didn't manage to do so. She wanted to tell Sybil those things: the time Anthony took her to a concert, the car rides, the discussions about books but she couldn't find the words.

"If you don't want to tell me it's fine"whispered Sybil when she didn't hear her sister talking.

"I can't find the words, I'm sorry. What I can tell you is that I am looking forward for tomorrow, I am so happy and just this once it's something that is happening to _me. _I have a question for you though: Did you feel like this when you said yes to Tom and the night before your wedding? Like your chest was about to explode?"

"Are you asking details about my love story with Tom?

"If you put it like that, yes. I never asked you, we never got the chance to talk about it"

It all happened in a rush, the out coming of Sybil and Tom was unexpected then there had been Lavinia's funeral and immediately after Sybil went to Ireland. Even when they saw each other again at the wedding Edith didn't find the time to ask her sister some details. But it wasn't only about time, also about courage: Edith used to think that her wish for Sybil to open up was misplaced, that somehow Sybil would have thought that her only desire was to make nasty comments. It wasn't the case.

"All right. Yes, my chest seemed to explode every time I was with Tom and long before I admitted my feelings it was already like that"

"Long before you admitted your feelings?"

"Well, we were friends at the beginning. He always encouraged my interests and passions, I guess it started innocently we just started talking one day in the car and we became friends. Me, Tom and Gwen. Then came the garden party and we hold hands and I rather enjoyed the contact. And one day I just realized, the fact that I didn't admit it was something different…"

"You spent a lot of time in the garage didn't you?"asked Edith.

Sybil giggled, remembering her constantly popping in to the garage just to see Tom.

"I did, I invented loads of excuses to go there, at some point I stopped. I just went there and for Tom it wasn't a problem. We saw each other after dinner, or when I had a spare minute time between nursing shifts. We nearly kissed once"

"What?"said Edith, her tone of voice growing from a whisper to normal. This piece of news came really unexpected , the part with the garage well one could balance the equation alone because if it wasn't there where else could have Sybil had the opportunity to talk with Tom without anyone noticing it? But that they nearly kissed once, it was more about Sybil's personality rather than anything else.

"Yes but we didn't, I walked away but I really wanted it. That was the moment when I realized that repressing my feelings and my wishes wasn't really working"

"But you didn't say yes then"

"No, I wanted to be sure that I was making the right decision. Poor Tom, he waited so long for an answer. He proposed in York before I started my training"

"In York? So that's when it officially started?"

"Yes, and although I liked him back then I was never sure that what I was feeling was real and important. It turned out it was"

"You know, I'm not sure I liked Anthony right away. I was flattered by the attention but with the time passing I grew fond of him. It hurt when Mary told him it was all a farce on my part" admitted Edith.

"That's all in the past now"

"It is, there is nothing that can go wrong this time"

_Nothing that can go wrong this time_ her sister's words echoed in Sybil's mind.

"Edith are ready for Papa and granny's remarks. They won't stop neither you nor Sir Anthony, will they?"

"No, they won't. But Sybil, papa gave the blessing…" Edith stopped talking for a moment, her father had given his blessing to Sybil too that didn't mean that he accepted the situation "It doesn't mean anything right?"

"I'm sorry, but with me and Tom it didn't work: I see how papa looks at us. but it doesn't bother us, it doesn't bother me. I would make the same choice over and over again"

"And you have never regretted it, not even for one second?"

"Never and I never will. This is what I always wanted. My life is perfect just as it is"

"That is evident. Whatever the others may say, I like Tom. And I do believe that he is perfect for you. Knowing you, no one else could have made you that happy. None of us saw how you truly were until after the war but Tom did from the beginning did he?"

"Yes, I think that's one of the reasons we became friends. But back to you, are you going on with your choice no matter what?"

"And miss my chance to be happy? I will marry Anthony, that's what I want and I don't care about papa's or granny's reasons against it. It's not their life and to be honest those reasons are completely invalid"

"They are. I'm happy for you Edith, I really am. And thanks about the things you said about me and Tom"

"You are welcome"

"Now try to catch some sleep, no bride should look tired on her wedding day"

"Goodnight. And thanks for everything"

Sybil smiled to her sister and hugged her briefly before leaving the room and getting back to hers.


	3. Talking with Sir Anthony

A/N: My contribution for EAST alliance day part 2.

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**Talking to Sir Anthony**

"We could walk, instead of borrowing one of the cars" said Sybil to Tom, while she adjusted her hat.

"Darling, I don't want to bully you or anything and I am pretty sure you can make the walk but must I remind you that you are pregnant?"

"No, I am fully aware of it but I can make it"

"Both going and coming back?"

"Right perhaps not, we can always walk when we come back. Tom, did papa really said you can borrow one of the cars?"

"I asked him nicely and he said yes. I didn't tell him _where_ we are going and what for but that is our business only. If he knew he wouldn't have said yes because I fear we are quite ruining his and your grandmother's scheming plans"

"Their fault not ours" said Sybil smiling and taking the hand Tom was offering so that together they could have reached the garage.

It was strange walking into the garage together, after all that time it still felt like their place and the garage of Downton had previously been a sort of place out of the world for them. They both had good and bad memories of the place but whether it was good or bad it still was theirs.

"Brings back a lot of memories, doesn't it?"

"Like the glove you lost three times in four days?" asked Tom with a smirk.

"The second time I really lost it, the other ones were just made up"

"Really, I wouldn't have guessed that it was all just made up. But all your brief visits were really welcome"

"Oh really? I guess they were the best part of your day. They often were my favorite part of the day and it was a nice view..."

"Was it?"

"Indeed"

Sybil stepped closer to Tom and gave him a light kiss before she stepped into the car.

Just like the old days indeed, with her sitting in the back of the car looking at Tom and he driving, sometimes looking back at her and smiling. The days when they used the time in the car to talk about everything that crossed their minds: politics, books... And it all started because Tom asked her about the frock she was going to have made, who knows maybe things would have been different if he never talked to her. Maybe he would have been just the handsome chauffeur who worked for her parents and nothing more, or maybe they would have become friends anyway. She hoped so, she couldn't imagine her life with someone other than Tom it just looked so absurd.

"What are you thinking of?" asked Tom as he turned around.

"Us"

"Happy thoughts, I hope"

"They always are. Tom, now that we are storming into Sir Anthony's house do we actually have a plan of the things we have to say or do we just improvise?"

"Well, if there are two people who can be persuasive even if we are just improvising it's us. It works, most of the time"

"It does, do you think we can really convince Sir Anthony?"

"We can try, but however it ends we need to warn him"

It came out that despite the blessings and reassurances Lord Grantham and the Dowager countess were not really that happy for Edith's imminent wedding, little remarks had been made behind Edith's back and both Tom and Sybil feared that somehow the Crawleys would have tried to stop the wedding. And the problem was that Anthony seemed a little afraid of taking the next step, a part of him was afraid that the marriage wasn't what Edith wanted. Tom and Sybil both feared that if he would have heard one more word against the whole situation he would have changed his mind and this was what they were trying to prevent.

"I just want to see them together, they are the perfect couple. And it already didn't work once because of Mary, I don't want it to fail again because of my family. Edith deserves to be happy!"

"She does indeed and so does Sir Anthony. We have to save the day, don't we?"

"Just as you did with Mary and Matthew"

"I could change my job if I didn't like being a journalist so much"

"I wouldn't allow you, it's important what you are doing now"

"Driving the car around?" joked Tom.

"Very funny, but please pay attention on the road now"

"Pay attention on the road? You never said that in the old days, if my memory doesn't fail me"

"It doesn't but back in the old days you always knew the road, at least when it was about driving me about"

"And here we are" said Tom as he turned off the motor "And there is Sir Anthony waiting for us"

He helped Sybil to come out of the car and walked with her towards Sir Anthony.

"Mr. Branson, Lady Sybil" he greeted them.

Sybil wanted to tell him not to call her a lady, that Mrs. Branson was already perfect and that Sybil was even better but it could have waited for the moment there was a really important matter they had to discuss.

"Sir Anthony. How do you do?"

"I'm fine thank you. I was arranging the last details for the big day. But do come in and I will offer you some tea. Please don't care about the mess you might see"

Tom and Sybil followed Sir Anthony into the library and took place on the sofa while the host sat down in front of them and rung the bell for the tea. Sybil looked herself around, the house was much smaller than Downton but in the whole it seemed more cozy. It wasn't imposing and it didn't put people in awe, but it was still to big for her. The house she loved best was the small flat she lived in back in Ireland, because it was hers and Tom's but also because represented all she ever wanted: a simple and normal life, just like the one of millions of others.

"You have a beautiful house" said Sybil in order to break the ice.

"That's what your sister always says. Are you here because of Edith?"

"Yes, we are but not in the way you would think" said Tom.

For a moment in Sir Anthony's eyes the fear that they were there to tell him something against his choices, just like Lord Grantham did a couple of times before.

_He really is insecure about it._

"We wanted to warn you. The thing is papa might have given you and Edith the blessing but that doesn't mean that he is happy about this. Or that he approves"

_He gave me and tom his blessing but still hates my choices and disapproves of Tom. _

"They are right in places: I am far too old for your sister"

"No or age doesn't matter. As social class doesn't matter, and if it does it should only be the business of those who are getting married. What counts Sir Anthony is your happiness and Edith's, nothing more nothing less"

Anthony looked at the two people in front of him, he had lost contact when Sybil announced to everyone that she was going to marry Tom Branson, the chauffeur. He believed them as they told him to care only about happiness, because they were the living proof that it was possible to find happiness even if the entire world seemed against it.

He just wasn't sure if he had the strength and courage to do the same. What if Edith didn't really want to marry him? What if in a couple of years time she would begin to regret it?

"I worry about Edith mostly, is this really what she wants to do with her life? Spent her days with a crippled old man?"

"She is sure, I can assure you. Sir Anthony when you were going to propose the first time, Mary stopped you with her lies because there was a pettiness going on between her and Edith and at that time it was all about ruining each other happiness. But Edith never made fun of you and she was pretty devastated after you walked away. And now? Now her dream is coming true, no one can doubt that this is what Edith really wants" explained Sybil.

"Is it?"

Tom nodded. "I once told Sybil that all that mattered, the center of everything was if she loved me or not and that the rest was just detail. And it does work like this: if you want to have a life with Edith, if -as she does- you can imagine waking up with her in the mornings and spent the rest of your days with her than do it. Go ahead, marry her and live a happy and full life uncaring what others might say"

"It sounds so easy"

"It is easy, if one is convinced about his choices. And my family would always find something against every suitor that showed up, don't let them make the rules. They will not live your life, they don't know how your relationship with Edith really is".

"Yes, but it's your choice only. If this marriage is what you want than don't give everything up, put your wishes in front of everything else. Both you and Edith deserve it and if you go on, you can trust us, it will be a decision you will never regret"

"And you had never had a second thought?" he asked to Sybil.

"Never. Not once" she said with a smile.

...

As Sir Anthony watched Tom and Sybil driving away back to Downton he made his choice. If they did it, why couldn't he?

They had asked him what he would have chosen and the answer was a life with Edith and the happiness that would have come with her.


	4. An Afternoon with the Bransons

A/N: My contribution for EAST alliance day, part 3.

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**An Afternoon with the Bransons:**

Edith was driving the car at maximum speed. She was smiling, enjoying the freedom and the fresh air that was whipping her face but most of all she was happy that in not much time she would have seen Sybil again.

"My dear, could you slow down a little?" asked Sir Anthony while he was holding tight at the cars door. When Edith asked him if she could have driven the car on their way to Sybil and Tom's house, both back and forth, he said yes gladly knowing how much Edith enjoyed driving the motor but he would have never imagined that just as usual, she would have glued her foot on the accelerator. This was one of the few things he didn't understand of his wife, her passion for speed.

"I'm sorry, I'll slow down but just a little and I thought that this way you would feel young again"

"My dear, just slow down a little. It won't help if we crush against something one of these days" said Anthony with a smile "And remember to turn left at the next crossroad. If we have taken the right roads we should arrive at your sister's house in about ten minutes"

"I'm so happy to see her again, and Tom of course. You know that it was Tom who taught me how to drive? I asked him for lessons just before the war started and it continued for a while. He would be proud of the progress I made"

"Was it Tom who taught you to glue your feet on the accelerator?"

"No, I learned it myself. At the time he was giving me lessons I was terrible, and when Downton was turned into a convalescence home we stopped and then after the war, there was the entire story with Sybil." said Edith with a smile, remembering the past.

"You are happy for them, Sybil and Tom. You always were once you accepted the situation"

Anthony thought about the long dinners at the Crawleys, dinners where everyone went against Tom trying their best at making him uncomfortable maybe not openly but it was there. Edith instead gave him little smiles and treated him slightly better than the others.

" I was, I am. One could not be happy for them, for Sybil: she was so different it was like her true self came on surface. A lot of times at dinner or in the drawing room you could have seen that Sybil didn't want all of this, especially after the war. But when we saw her in Dublin at her wedding or when she got home even now with all the troubles with the Irish government, to cut it short since she chose Tom she is different in a good way and the true Sybil came back."

"Tom is not that bad, he's actually a good person"

_And I owe him a lot_ but he didn't add this part. Edith didn't know that Sybil and tom went to talk to him a couple of days before the wedding, she didn't know that he nearly let Edith's family convince him that their match wasn't a good one. He wanted to marry Edith but at the same time he didn't want to trap her in a marriage with an old crippled man as he was and in the days before the wedding the last reason was bigger and louder than the first one. Tom and Sybil talked him out of it, telling him to go ahead with his plans that it was unnecessary to care about other's opinions if he was about to be happy again beside there was nothing concrete against the marriage he was a respectable suitor.

_Take this chance to be happy no matter what. _And guess what? He did and he never regretted it, nor did Edith. Looking back now he couldn't remember the reasons that nearly draw him away from Edith. His marriage was a happy one, his life with Edith was a second chance after Maud's death and not one day passed that he wake up in the morning and loved her more.

"He is, but my parents are a little bit blind especially papa. He will always be convinced that Tom seduced Sybil behind his back and with their get away from Ireland... One day he will come to terms but this might happen in ten years time"

"And here we are, it should be the one at the end of the road"

The Bransons after the birth of little Evelyn moved away from Downton unwilling to spent more time than necessary in the Abbey, they chose a small house an hour away by Downton by car. Not too far away but they had their loneliness and whoever wanted to pay a visit was very welcome.

"Darling, I think they have arrived" said Tom as he looked out of the window and saw a car getting parked near their house "And you know what that means?" he then said to his daughter who was looking at him carefully as if to study her father's face, memorizing every single detail "Aunt Edith and uncle Anthony will be here every minute now and they will give you all sorts of attention and they are going to spoil you a lot"

Evelyn's face lighted up and she begun to gurgle happily.

"Just in time for tea, Anthony is really having a good influence on Edith, she was always late before. Is everything at its right place?"

"Well unless a storm passed in the living room, yes. There might be some of Evelyn's toys around but I doubt either of them will mind, most probably they will pick them up and play with her"

Edith and Anthony both loved kids, the last time they had spent an afternoon with Evelyn neither Tom nor Sybil managed to make any conversation because everyone's attention was on the baby. If things hadn't changed than this time it would have been the same and having the toys already at hand was much more comfortable than having to look after them.

The door bell rung and Sybil went ahead to open the door and let her sister and brother-in-law come in.

"Edith!" she squeaked as she saw her sister, and immediately hugged her tight. They hadn't seen each other since Evelyn's birth and it was now months ago. There had been letters but Sybil was always looking forward to meet her sister and her brother in law because it was always a reminder that in the end even Edith had found her happiness. If war made her sister a nicer person, marriage worked even more and eventually the real Edith came back to the surface and the nasty one disappeared, even if sometimes for fun Edith used to make sourly remarks.

"Syb let me breath!" murmured Edith trying to free herself from her sister's hold.

"I'm sorry, Anthony how are you?"

"I still have to recover from the trip, your sister drove the car"

"Is she still as bad as when I gave her lessons?" asked Tom as he walked outside. He remembered Edith's driving technique far too well, or better to say her lack of technique. Several times there had been very abrupt brakings, sometimes the car swerved and sometimes the motor just stopped.

"No. I have improved a lot! But Anthony thinks that I drive far too fast... Evelyn!"

Sybil rolled her eyes at Tom, as if to say _here we go._

"Can I hold her? Please"

"Do you want to stay with your aunt? Here be careful as usual" said Tom first to his daughter and then to Edith.

Edith took her niece in her arms and begun to speak gibberish with her, making grimaces to make her smile.

"We lost her" stated Sybil "Now do come inside, tea is ready and we have some cake if you want"

Tom took Sir Anthony and Edith's coat and put them aside in order for them not to get ruined. For a moment he stood on the doorstep of the small living room just watching the scene with a smile on his face. There was Edith who was playing with little Evelyn, Sybil laughing at something Anthony said and Anthony all busy trying to tell a story. If someone would have told him that he would have finally said that one day he would have felt at ease with Sybil's family, he would have never believed it. But now he felt at ease and not out of place, maybe it was because the Crawleys in small doses were better than seeing them all at grand dinner parties, maybe it was because he was home or because it were Edith and Anthony - two people it was easy to get along with - but it didn't matter because the important thing was that eventually he was beginning to accept them all as part of his family. It was becoming easier, a lot easier.

"How is married life?" asked Tom both to Edith and Sir Anthony.

"It still seems so unreal, but it's the best thing that happened to me" answered Edith, taking for a moment her eyes off Evelyn.

It was true, she was just so used to be pushed into oblivion, to be unhappy that her life with Anthony looked like a dream. She would have never imagined her life to become what it was now, but it happened and she was glad about it.

"Edith summed it up perfectly, how is life here going on?"

"We still have to settle in completely but we love it. I have my job at the newspaper and Sybil has found a suitable position as a nurse"

"It would only be for a couple of days a week, for starters but it will do for some time. Let's not forget that we have little Evelyn to take care of"

"And how do you do it?" asked Anthony.

"Well I'm at home three days a week and Tom works from home the other two. He talked about it with his boss who agreed to let him work from home for two days because it wasn't a problem, as long as I keep doing my job, but that seemed pretty obvious from the beginning"

"You do like your life a lot Sybil, don't you?"

"Yes, as always. I made my choice and it was the right one, just as you two did. We all are living the lives we always wanted didn't we?"

"We are and we have some news from Downton, actually we have news ourselves. You want to hear them?"

"Of course we want"

This said Edith begun a detailed story about all the adventures and misadventures that happened recently at Downton. Mary and Matthew's silly quarrels - like the ones they always had -, news about Anna and Mr. Bates who now moved to their own cottage, Robert and Cora planning everything for Harold coming for a visit and as Edith said _granny being granny._

"And now for our big news..." Edith took Sir Anthony's hand and held it tight.

A moment of silence followed as if Edith wanted to add some suspense before talking.

"I'm pregnant!" she announced.

"That's brilliant news" said Sybil all excited "Tell me since when do you know?"

"It's not been long"

"And we would have never imagined it to happen so soon, would have never imagined it to happen at all" admitted Sir Anthony.

"But it did happen" reminded him Edith "And I couldn't be happier"

After all this time, even with the proof that their union was a happy one, there were still moments in which Anthony doubted her choices and her happiness, moments in which he thought of himself as a crippled old fool. It was in moments like this that Edith tried to show him her happiness and lack of regrets more often than usual and she didn't mind doing it, because her feelings had always been genuine so she didn't have to pretend. Nothing changed from the first time she realized that she loved Anthony dearly.

"And we wanted to ask you both to be the godparents when the time will come"

"Us? Really?" asked Tom.

"Yes, we owe you a lot and since Anthony doesn't have any family alive, we thought that you two could have done the job. We are sure that you would be more than suitable for the position?"

"Don't you fear that we will have a wild influence" said Sybil imitating her grandmother's voice.

"No, you both are extraordinary people and if our child should become even a little like you I wouldn't mind at all"

"Thank you, you know that Evelyn will feel very much put aside when the time comes? You spoiled her so much until now" joked tom.

"Don't worry, she will always be our favorite niece"


	5. Good News

**Good News:**

He could feel them, the tears burning in his eyes. He was trying to stay calm, to think positive but the thought of losing her was unbearable. He couldn't lose her, not now not ever. He wouldn't have known what to do if the worst should happen. But that's why he was there, why he decided to take Sybil to the hospital and follow Dr. Clarkson advice to let her have a cesarean section to make their baby born.

A gamble, that's how Sir Philip had called it but he didn't care. Of the two of them he trusted Dr. Clarkson more after all he had known Sybil for all her life and if he said that there was something wrong, that Sybil was at high risk of eclampsia, that the shock of childbirth could have start the seizures than he trusted him. yes, a cesarean may have not been safe but so was natural childbirth. If Dr. Clarkson was right Sybil might have survived and so the baby.

"Oh God!" whispered Tom as he took his head in his hands.

How long was it since they had arrived at the hospital? How long had they been operating Sybil now? he wasn't sure. Time seemed to pass in a very weird way: back at Downton it all was rushed and now it seemed to pass slower than usual. He knew that it was all about him, that time passed just as usual but he couldn't help but wonder.

Tom wiped away the tears and leant back on the back of the wooden chair.

Someone took his hand gently, he looked on his side and saw Edith sitting beside him. When did she sit there? Last time he checked the Crawleys were still in the hospital hall.

"Dr. Clarkson will know what to do. Everything will be fine, you'll see" said Edith with broken voice.

"Thank you. I'm not ready... I wouldn't know what to do without her" Tom let out a sob and the tears begun to fall down "I'm not ready and I am scared"

"Me too. She is the best person in the world, she has always been nice to me and not many are"

"You know, I always thought we would have had our entire lives and then this happened. I'm not sure of anything right now"

"I am sure of one thing: Dr. Clarkson knows what he is doing and if there is someone who can save both Sybil and the baby it's him"

"Is he?" Tom wanted to believe it, and he trusted the doctor but at the same time he didn't want to build up false hopes that might have led to nothing. He was preparing himself for the worse, perhaps this way if it was the case some of the pain could have been prevented.

"He is and he is going to save her. You will really have the rest of your life to spent time with Sybil. You will have forever"

"Forever, that's the time I told her I would have waited for her. She said she didn't need forever, just a few more weeks which was exactly what happened"

_And then Sybil caressed his cheek, which as a gesture was already revealing what her answer would have been. Just as when she took his hand at the garden party. _

The garden party. It seemed like a lifetime ago, it had been the first time he wanted to tell Sybil his feelings.

_I don't suppose you could give me a chance. _Was what he wanted to tell her if Mrs. Hughes had not interrupted them.

"Once Sybil makes up her mind, no one can persuade her otherwise. Trust me I think papa tried everything to make her leave you but she wouldn't. Not for the entire world, I think she loved you for a long time before she said yes"

"I suppose she did, she always said no but she often talked about us."

"And she never gave you away"

"No. Do you think it's reckless to talk about future?"

What if talking about it was like defying destiny? A bad omen of what was going to happen next?

Edith shook her head.

"We thought about staying at Downton for a couple of months, until I find a job. then settle down in our own house. We can't stay at Downton, it's not our home" admitted Tom.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, I bring news"

Tom looked at the nurse standing in front of him. That was it, the moment of the truth. He tried to stay calm, to convince himself that at this point there was nothing left to do, not even praying.

"They are both safe and sound"

Tom felt as if a weight had been put away from his shoulders. _Safe_, Sybil made it and so did the baby.

"Are they really?" he asked to be sure.

"They are, if you follow me I will bring you to your wife and daughter"

"Thank God" he murmured "And thank you Edith, for distracting me from my own thoughts"

Because that's exactly what Edith had done. She had kept him talking so that he would have concentrated on something that wasn't the uncertain future of Sybil. She helped him before a possible breakdown and he was glad for it.

"You're welcome. Now go to her" said Edith with a smile.

Sybil's room was the one at the end of the corridor, for the entire journey - even if it were just a bunch of meters - Tom still felt like it was all a dream. A wonderful dream from which he could have woken up any minute only to find himself in the harsh reality.

The nurse opened the door for him and let him walk in.

Sybil was lying on the bed, a little pale but with a bright smile on her face. She was holding their daughter and was looking at her. Doctor Clarkson was standing beside her making the last investigations about her conditions and writing them down on a piece of paper.

"Hey" said Sybil as she looked up and saw him.

"My darling! You are both fine, I can't find the words to tell you how happy I am" he paused a moment, and walked towards Sybil sitting down beside her on the bed, taking her hand and gently caressing it. "Are they?" he said to Dr. Clarkson.

"Out of danger? Yes. We made all the tests, her condition is now stable and it will remain this way"

"Thank you, doctor Clarkson"

"You are more than welcome, thank you for the trust you gave me. I will leave you with your wife Mr. Branson, I will tell everyone of her conditions but they won't disturb the two of you for some time" said the Doctor before leaving the room.

"Isn't she beautiful?" asked Sybil.

"You both are. You made me come a fright"

"I'm so sorry, but I am better now. Have you thought of a name? I wanted to call her Evelyn"

"Evelyn?"

"It means life, and I wanted to give her Victoria as second name. What do you think?"

"Evelyn Victoria Branson? It's a beautiful name. I think I will stick to that, I couldn't have thought any better. I love you so much"

"I love you too"

Tom smiled again and gave Sybil a light kiss on the forehead.


	6. Exactly as It Should Be

_A/N: I know this is really really short but I hope you will enjoy it anyway._

_Written for __**The Yankeecountess**__._

* * *

**Exactly as It Should Be:**

"Funny thing is, that if we were back at Downton at this point there would be the servants ball" said Sybil as she slipped under the covers, waiting for Tom to reach her.

"The ball I missed every single year?"

"Losing your chance to dance with me. You know what? I actually wanted to dance with you and always hoped that you would have been there" said Sybil, slightly blushing.

"We could do it now" he suggested with a smirk.

"Dancing? Here and now?"

"Why not? I mean who cares, it's just us. And we can always imagine everyone faces if they knew that we are dancing in our pajamas. So will you accept this dance Mrs. Branson?"

Sybil laughed and got out of bed at light speed, taking Tom's hand and embracing him.

"Tom, you know what? I love you, and I love you more every day that passes"

"It's your lucky day then, because the same thing happens to me" said Tom before leaning his head forward to close the gap between him and Sybil and kissing her.

And this was the scene: Sybil and Tom dancing in a small room in the shadows, late at Christmas day, in their pajamas before going to bed.

And guess what? For both of them it felt like the best thing in the world: no fancy dresses, no rich dinner, just the two of them lost in their own happiness.

_Exactly as it should be._


	7. The Christmas Ball

A/N: another short drabble, and again it's Tom and Sybil dancing (but I was watching Dirty Dancing 2 and was inspired)

* * *

**The Christmas Ball:**

"I really regret our decision to come over here for Christmas" whispered Tom to Sybil as they watched the first guests started to dance.

It wasn't in their plans to come to Downton for Christmas, they would have been more than happy to stay at the cottage and celebrate on their own but Evelyn begged them to go because it meant that she could have spent the holidays with her cousins George and Violet Maud, so in the end both Sybil and Tom agreed. And that's why they were there: at the Crawley's Christmas ball.

"Well, compared to our very own Christmas ball in our pajamas… this is really nothing. If only they all knew" replied Sybil smiling.

"Pajamas are definitely more comfortable than this outfit, though I still love that dress" he said referring to Sybil's black dress with golden roses on it, the dress she had on when she said yes and on so many other occasions.

"Mr. Branson you don't look bad either" she said with a smirk.

"Don't Mr. Branson me. Still, care for a dance?"

"Even if it's not in the Bransons style?"

"A dance is a dance, come"

He took her hand and Sybil followed him to the other couples. They started to follow the others, letting the music guide them and soon everything else but them was forgotten just as usual.

"You know, we still could do this in the Bransons style" whispered Sybil to Tom's ear. He didn't have time to give her a response that Sybil closed the gap between them and kissed Tom passionately in front of everybody else uncaring of commentaries, manners or her parents' reaction.


	8. The Things That Matter

_A/N: for __**Odestalovebaby**_ _who wanted to read a drabble/story based on one of my tumblr posts (Evelyn asking her grandfather why he hates Tom)_

* * *

**The Things That Matter:**

Sybil, Tom and little Evelyn had been invited to Downton for tea and even if they were not really inclined to do so Sybil and Tom decided to go. Important matters had to be discussed and apparently their presence was requested and so they were sitting with the Crawleys and the Strallans in Downton's living room.

The children - Evelyn, little George and Violet Maud - were playing on the carpet with some colored wooden boxes, deeply absorbed in what they were doing because just as George said 'Da! We built the most highest tower in the world!' and such a task needed a lot of concentration.

"But if you would change the way you manage the estate, just as Matthew suggested, you would have more advantage and profit than you imagined" said Tom, interrupting Robert's monologue about his lack of faith in every sort of renovation. Downton had been managed in the same way for centuries so why change now?

Money or rather lack of money, as Matthew put it.

Robert gave a threatening glance to Tom before answering him sharply "And how do you know such things?"

"Because my grandfather owned a farm and I know some things about managing it" replied Tom with all the calm he could gather, he didn't want to be impolite towards Robert but sometimes it was just too much.

Sybil took Tom's hand squeezed it and then smiled to him, reminding Tom not to lose his temper nor take what her father said as an insult. Maybe it was meant like on Robert's part that but he didn't want it to affect him.

"Well I won't take any advice by…"

"Robert!" hissed Cora.

Evelyn raised her head up and looked at her grandfather, she had heard the tone he used and it wasn't the first time. The thing was: her grandfather was a nice person with her but whenever he talked to her dad, his voice and attitude changed and he became rude. She had never understood it. Was it possible that he hated her dad who was the best person in the whole world? And why?

"Granddad? Why do you talk like that when you talk to dad?" she said quietly.

As she spoke everyone froze for a moment, and Robert looked as if he could have died for shock any minute now.

"Oh yes _papa,_ please explain her why you don't like Tom" said Sybil with a smile.

_Let her hear your stupid and narrow-minded ideas. Tell her that after eight years you still haven't accepted that I fell in love with him, and that it wasn't because he seduced me. Tell her how you can only think of him as the former chauffeur and me as the lady. Tell her the whole story from start to finish!_

But Sybil's father didn't say anything, his granddaughter's words had caught him by surprise and he wasn't sure if an honest answer would have been appropriate.

"You don't have to hate him" continued Evelyn, speaking as solemnly as an ambassador, looking her grandfather directly in the eyes "he and mom love each other so very much. And they are so very happy together. And he is the best dad in the world"

Robert was still speechless.

Sybil smiled first at her daughter and then at Tom who was smiling back.

"Well said!" exclaimed Edith after a moment "You know Evelyn what you just listed are all the things that really matter, don't let anyone tell you differently"


	9. Chapter 9

_A/N: Written for a prompt on tumblr._

* * *

Tom was in Downton's nursery cradling Evelyn. Mr. Carson would have sounded the gong any minute now but the idea of going down for dinner was unbearable, being back at Downton was unbearable. He tried to stay calm and not to lose his temper but it was becoming every day more difficult. It was already bad, it got worse after he and Sybil fled from Ireland but now - after Tom brought Sybil to the hospital after Dr. Clarkson announcing her state of pre-eclampsia - it was even worse.

Sometimes it looked as if Lord Grantham cared more about his ideas and himself than for his daughter. There was no doubt that he loved her but there were times when it simply didn't seem like that: the one time he wanted to pay off Tom in order for him to leave England without Sybil (as if Sybil had a price), his reticence to bring Sybil to a hospital because a fancy London doctor advised him so and of course his complete inability to see who Sybil really was and what made her happy.

Those disapproving looks and the remarks that Lord Grantham addressed him on daily basis, he couldn't bear them any longer and he was really looking forward to when the cottage, that would have become his and Sybil's new home, would have been ready.

Sybil waited a moment on the doorstep: she looked at her husband, already dressed up for dinner, talking gibberish to their daughter. She would have never get tired of the view: her family.

"Tom?" she said as she got closer to him "We should make our way downstairs. Carson rung the gong"

"So it's time"

"Unfortunately" sighed Sybil "I don't really want to go down for dinner. I didn't want this life and now I'm dragged into it again"

"I'm so sorry, darling"

"No. Tom it's not your fault, coming to Downton has been the best decision after what happened. And I don't hold a grudge against you because of what happened. It's just _mama _and _papa_ have forgotten that I turned my back at this sort of things. I've never been suited for it, long before I fell in love with the handsome, political, Irish chauffeur"

"And married him" added Tom with a smirk.

"And married him" confirmed Sybil "Which is the best thing I ever did. How is she doing?"

"She is about to sleep. Here" he said as he handed Evelyn to Sybil.

"You are both so beautiful and I do love you both so very much"

Sybil giggled "I should hope so. Now little darling mommy and daddy have to go to eat dinner, but they will check on you later again"

Sybil gently placed Evelyn back in the cradle and took Tom's hand. They didn't go down immediately, instead they waited a moment longer until their daughter was fast asleep.

"We really should go" whispered Tom "I think your father will skin us alive if we don't"

They would have never heard the end of it. Their delay would have been yet another thing that they did wrong, and on which to argue about. But then again whatever he and Sybil did seemed to be unacceptable, they just learned to deal with it even when it was unbearable.

"And we shall confront him, just like we always do. And really Tom we must organize a visit to our cottage and accidentally stay there for dinner"

"We can't neglect our future home, can we?"

"Absolutely not!" said Sybil before pulling Tom closer and kissing him.


	10. Bed Time Story

_A/N: I don't know why but I'm in a Christmas mood (it might have something to do with Allen Leech reading an extract of the Christmas Carol) and this came out of it. _

_Quotes from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol._

* * *

**Bed Time Story**

It was Christmas Eve, just before dinner time. The Bransons were lodging at Downton for the festivities to spent the holidays with the Crawleys. It was the first time in years that they didn't spent Christmas at their cottage, just the three of them, but this time after the announcement that Robert, Cora, Mary, Matthew, little George and the Dowager Countess wouldn't have traveled to Scotland, that Edith and Anthony would have come over from Locksley because of the insistence of Violet Maud to see her cousins again, Tom and Sybil decided to come too.

They weren't particularly eager, Christmas at Downton was always a great deal after having spent several Christmases at home, in their pajamas, eating cookies. Even Evelyn wasn't very eager to come and visit her grandparents, of course she was happy to be able to play with her beloved cousins again but at the same time staying at Downton meant that the extra rule of her being permitted to stay awake longer wasn't allowed. She didn't understand why at Downton children were not permitted to eat dinner with the adults, especially during the holidays but when she had asked her grandparents they just had sighed (and she was sure that her grandfather looked badly at her for just mentioning it).

But now, that she was ready for going to bed, she still had the occasion to spend some time with her parents before they had to go Downstairs. Sybil was still in her and Tom's room but would have reached them in a matter of minutes, whereas Tom was sitting on the edge of Evelyn's bed already dressed for dinner.

"And you are sure that you aren't too grown up for this?" he asked as he took a book out of the shelf above his daughter's bed.

The book was a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, a new entry in Evelyn's collection of favorite books, bought by Sybil in Ripon the last time she had been there. There was already a copy in his Lordship's library but the Bransons had thought it more convenient to have their own copy, especially if Evelyn would have read it over and over again.

"No, and you always make all the voices!" exclaimed Evelyn with a big smile on her face.

"Well then… Where did we stop last night?" he said while flipping through the pages.

"We were going to read about the goose and the pudding"

Evelyn cuddled under the covers, hugged her stuffed animal and made herself comfortable in her bed before giving her father a light nod with the head telling him that he could have started reading.

"Aye, the goose and the pudding."

Tom cleared his throat and started "_There never was such a goose. Bob said he didn't believe there ever was such a goose cooked. Its tenderness and flavor, size and cheapness, were the themes of universal admiration. Eked out by apple-sauce and mashed potatoes, it was a sufficient dinner for the whole family; indeed, as Mrs. Cratchit said with great delight (surveying one small atom of a bone upon the dish), they hadn't ate it all at last! Yet everyone had had enough, and the youngest Cratchits in particular were steeped in sage and onion to the eyebrows! But now, the plates being changed by Miss Belinda, Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone, — too nervous to bear witnesses, — to take the pudding up, and bring it in. Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in turning out! Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goose, — a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid! All sorts of horrors were supposed. Hallo!" _

Evelyn started to giggle at the way her father had pronounced the last word, and soon Sybil's giggled joined hers.

"Mommy!"

"My darling, is there some place for me too?" asked Sybil, her heart melting because of the fondness and love she felt whenever she was with her daughter and Tom.

"Always, there's not even the need to ask" replied Tom.

She made her way towards her family and took place beside Tom and quickly kissed him, before sitting down beside him and taking his hand, then nodding to tell him to go on.

"_ A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastry-cook's next door to each other with a laundress's next door to that! That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered, — flushed but smiling proudly, — with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half a quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top."_

Much to their displeasure they didn't manage to get to end of the chapter before the gong was sound. Evelyn let out a loud groan of frustration and pouted her lips. It wasn't fair that she couldn't have had more time with her parents on Christmas Eve and that they didn't manage to end the chapter, now she didn't know what would have happened next!

"Is there pudding tonight?" she asked, trying to delay her parents departure.

"I really have no idea, but we should make one at home" said Sybil sweetly.

"Are we? Really?"

"Of course! And it will be a fine pudding indeed" replied Tom "Meanwhile, you can dream about it".

Evelyn's face lighted up once more, all the disappointment wiped away because of her parents' promise. Perhaps, as soon as they would have been back to the cottage, they would have celebrated a belated Christmas. She hoped so and she would have asked them the following day.

"I will! Goodnight" she whispered.

"Goodnight and sweet dreams. And remember: we love you"

"I love you too"

Sybil and Tom both gave their daughter a goodnight kiss, then they turned down the lights and excited the room, making their way downstairs.

"I think she was quite deluded about how we are going to spent this Christmas"

"Aye, but I'm sure that we can do something about that. Imagine, there will come a day when she will try to avoid our company and she won't want me to read to her"

"Well, you won't be out of your job to quickly" said Sybil as she placed her hands on her swollen belly.

"I know and I'm looking forward to the new entry in our family" admitted Tom before pulling Sybil closer and kissing her.


	11. The Cricket Match

_A/N: Written for Rock the AU theme (sport)_

**The Cricket Match:**

Tom was walking towards Sybil, who was standing under the gazebo near their daughter's cradle.

The cricket match was about to begin, and yet he still hoped that there was a way out. He would have asked Sybil to run away with him, thus escaping Lord Grantham's request of him taking part of the game. Perhaps, if he asked kindly, Sybil would have said yes and they could have returned to their cottage and spent the afternoon there.

Two weeks earlier Tom found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, he had entered the library just as Robert Crawley had finished talking about his need of a new member for his cricket team. So, after some minutes of silence Lord Grantham realized that Tom was exactly the person he needed so he imposed his decision upon him. Nothing had helped, not Tom's explanation about his lack of knowledge and talent when it came down to cricket, not the remarks that Tom was a grown up man and there was no way that Robert could have forced him to do something. But lord Grantham didn't care and made Matthew give Tom lessons.

So there he was, wearing a ridiculous outfit and forced by his father in law to take part of a game he didn't like and in which he lacked talent, since even with Matthew's lessons , he still wasn't able to hit the ball with the bat. Sybil had told him not to worry, her father wanted him to play than he must have paid the consequences of it. If his team would have failed it wouldn't have been Tom's fault.

"Tom! Shouldn't you be on the field or at least with your team mates?" joked Sybil before giving her husband a quick kiss.

"I wanted to know if you and Evelyn wanted to run away with me"

"Elope? I did once and if I recall it correctly it didn't work out" she replied, referring to their failed elopement to Gretna Green "And trust me when I say that _papa_ would stop the game, run after us and then he would drag you back himself and place you on that field"

Tom sighed theatrically "And I thought that you were on my side"

"I am on your side, I always will and I really would say yes"

"Is there a but coming?"

"But you look very good in that outfit"

Although, now that she thought about it, Tom looked good with whatever he was wearing.

"It's just another form of oppression..."

Before he could have said anything else, Matthew called him warning him that the game would have started in any minute. But, as Tom was ready to part Sybil stopped him.

"About the oppression... It's only one more reason why I should help you to get out of it later" she whispered.

"Is that a promise?"

"I couldn't let you feel oppressed now, could I?" she replied with a mischievous smile "Now go, and such a good luck. Evelyn and I will cheer for you"


	12. A Moment of Comfort

_A/N: I've written this drabble because I was far too depressed after stumbling in season four. The transformation of Tom makes me want to cry, but it really broke my hear when he said out loud that e considered himself as a fool. _

_So I had to put it right again and include Sybil talking to him._

* * *

**_A Moment of Comfort:  
_**

By the time Sybil got back to the hall, Tom wasn't there anymore. She asked around but no one could give her a detailed answer about his whereabouts, apparently he just excused himself a couple of minutes before she rejoined the celebrations, but that was all.

The told her not to worry, that he probably just had to go to the bathroom or take a breath of fresh air but Sybil knew better. She was aware that Tom felt uncomfortable, with the situation, with the clothes but worst of all, he felt uncomfortable with himself. They usually didn't take part in such events, but it was Matthew's birthday so they had decided to go to Downton for the celebrations.

They were residing at the house for a couple of days but when she reached the room she found it empty. It was the first place that had come to her mind, but as Sybil sat down on the bed she realized that there was one place where Tom could have been. The only place at Downton that had always seemed out of the world, a place where nothing from the outside mattered, a place where they both had spent so many time where they weren't Lady Sybil and Branson the chauffeur but Sybil and Tom two people equal in everything: the garage.

Tom was sitting on a bench in the garage, he was taking deep breaths and was trying to free himself of his tie. He had the feeling that that thing was choking him slowly, and his attempts to feel comfortable were all vain. He knew that it wasn't just about the clothes, those were just the tip of the iceberg, it was about everything really: the guests at the party, the Crawleys, him. Everything helped in making him feel oppressed and out-of-place, he was in some sort of in-between, a sort of limbo between the life he had previously lived and the one he was about to live.

He felt as if he had lost himself in the process of moving on in life and he couldn't tell what happened to the old Tom Branson, the man he once was.

"A fool, that's what you are" he whispered.

He had no clue about what had reduced him like that, it wasn't the first one that he participated to a dinner at Downton. It hadn't happen frequently but it had happened before. He had always managed to not care about it too much, to go through the evening with the smallest amount of fuss and trying not to feel too uncomfortable, but this time it hadn't worked.

"Tom?" asked Sybil as she opened the door of the garage.

For a moment Tom's mind wandered back to all the evenings, before Sybil had given him an answer about her decisions, when she walked into the garage whether it was because of a message or to tell him about her day or just to discuss something she had read in the newspaper.

"I knew that I would have found you here"

She stepped inside and took place beside him, and they rearranged their positions until they faced each other.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"I talk like a fool, I'm dressed like a fool... I am a fool. I know that they are staring at me, as if I'm nothing more than an animal that just came out of a cave. I don't even know who I am anymore, this" he said pointing at himself "is not me. The worst part is, I don't know who I am anymore"

"You are not a fool, nor an animal that just exited a cave. You are Tom Branson, the same Tom Branson that you were six years ago, even if you now work as estate agent. You are the same man who talked to me about politics and encouraged me to speak my mind. You are a wonderful, wonderful man and I am the luckiest person in the world by having you as my husband. You are my Tom, with your qualities and your flaws, but aside from that the rest is just detail"

_The rest is detail _he felt as if he had pronounced those words a life time ago.

"Aye, it is. And who did pronounce such words of wisdom?" he joked.

"Oh you know, my husband. He is a very wise person"

"Is he?"

"I see Mr. Branson, that no matter the circumstances you always are so full of yourself"

"Some things never change, apparently"

Sybil smiled at him.

"In all seriousness now, you don't have to think about yourself as a fool or weird or anything along that line. You are nothing but Tom Branson, my husband and I am very very proud of you"

"Even with all the complications we had?" he said referring to what had happened in Ireland.

"Even with them. I said it before, and I'll say it again. I wouldn't give you up not for the world. You make me happy and I do love you so very very much"

"My darling…"

Sybil raised her hand and gently placed it on his cheek, stroking it. It was a gesture that she had often done through the years but that mirrored what she had done the night she had told him that she had almost made up her mind about marrying him. It was a tender touch, intimate in a different way and meant to reassure and give hope but most of all to show that they were together in a situation no matter what.

Slowly Sybil leaned closer until their faces were only inches apart.

Tom didn't lean closer, he wanted to kiss her but at the same time he wanted to thank her for being there, for reminding him who he was and tell him that he hadn't lost himself on his way. But before he could open his mouth, Sybil had captured it with hers giving him a gentle kiss in which the two of them put all their emotions, making the use of words become useless.


	13. Chapter 13

_A/N: Previously posted on Tumblr._

* * *

"You know Tom, I think you said that that donkey reminded you of my father one time too much"

"I said it once. It really isn't my fault if it got stuck in Evelyn's mind" replied Tom innocently .

"Because mama has asked me if we had something to do with it"

"And what did you say?"

"That I had no idea how Sybbie even thought about the nick name Donk"

"We are all partners in crime then"

"We have always been, ever since 1914 when you started sneaking out with me to go to political rallies" replied Sybil with a smile.


	14. Chapter 14

_A/N: Previously posted on Tumblr._

* * *

Sybil cycled towards Tom's office as fast as she could. The time before her next shift was counted, but she really wanted to spent some time with her husband before going back to the hospital. She knocked on the door before opening it and walking into the room.

"Sybil! What are you doing here?" asked Tom surprised. He didn't recall having any plans with Sybil for luncheon, and for a moment he worried that he might have forgotten about them.

"I just wanted to spent some time with my beloved husband. Is that a problem? Wait, have you already eaten?"

"No, I didn't. I didn't even have the intention of it"

"Good thing that I came then"

"Good thing indeed"

Tom made some space on the desk and recuperated a second chair, placing it in front of his.

"There. It's good to see you"

"I know. It's always good to see me"

Tom smirked. "Now who is frightfully full of herself?" he teased her, accusing her of the same thing she always accused him.

Sybil laughed "I am, sometimes. But you still win the first price"

"Excellent. Now before we have lunch, could I receive a kiss as reward?"

"You don't even have to ask!" she said before leaning herself across the desk and capturing his mouth with hers.


	15. Chapter 15

_A/N: Previously posted on Tumblr._

* * *

Silence fell around the table. All the eyes were set on Tom, and Lord Grantham was turning livid because of what his son-in-law just said. Sybil had no idea how the discussion degenerated from a praise of her mother to the questioning what the war had been for, but if she had to take parts she would have chosen Tom's. She grabbed his hand from under the table and squeezed it tight.

"How dare you?" screamed Robert.

"With all respect, you can't deny it" replied Tom "It didn't bring anything"

"I won't accept such ideas at my dinner table!"

"Then we will happily leave. Good night everyone" said Sybil while pushing her chair away, standing up and waiting for Tom to follow her.

"Goodnight" said Tom and together they left the room.

"I'm sorry Sybil, I didn't mean…"

"No. He is just angry because he didn't manage to turn you into someone you are not. He didn't think for a moment that it takes more than just a change of clothes to do a brain washing… Now let's go and find something to eat"

"And you really don't mind?"

"Tom, we've been married for five years and you still haven't understood that I don't care about this" she said pointing at the dining room.

"No, I don't doubt it. It's just that things with your family were going well recently"

"And they will return that way, as soon as papa recognizes that you are Tom Branson. The same Tom you always were, and that there is nothing he can do about it"


	16. Chapter 16

Sybil had just come down from the nursery with Evelyn, ready to go home, when she saw Tom standing motionless in Downton's hall.

"Tom, why are you standing here like a statue?"

"I hope it's a joke. It must be, though I am not sure"

"What dad?" asked Evelyn, hoping that it would have been something funny.

"Your grandfather" Tom looked himself around to see if Robert was out of sight and out of hearing "_donk,_ just asked me to shoot the dinner"

Sybil tried to keep a straight face, in order to show some empathy for her husband, but the way she imagined the scene with her father standing right in front of Tom and asking him to go out and shoot some rabbits (or whatever it was) was just to hilarious and she started laughing out loud.

"Why?" asked Evelyn. She really didn't understand it, first of all because when her mother had to take things to cook she usually bought them in the village, in those little shops where everyone was always so kind with her, and second they didn't even have to dine at her grandparents' house.

"If only I knew. I was just standing here, waiting for my beautiful ladies, when he arrived and said 'Tom, Mrs Patmore needs two rabbits could you go out and shoot them?'" he mimicked.

He was still in shock and even though Robert had asked him twice, he still wasn't sure that he made it up.

"And what did you say?" asked Sybil.

"No? Why should I go out and shoot dinner? It's not even my dinner and even if it was, the answer would still be no"

"How did he take it?"

"He was astonished that I had turned him down, but then said 'I'm going to ask Matthew'"

"Well then problem solved"

"Home!" screamed Evelyn then she added "Daddy, we will keep going to do the shopping with ma right?"

"Aye. They have invented shops for a reason" he reassured her.


	17. Chapter 17

It was a Sunday afternoon, the Bransons were at home and Sybil and Tom were playing with Evelyn. Their daughter had recently discovered a new game: it consisted in pinning the tail to the donkey. It had become one of Evelyn's favorite ways to pass the time, and she often tried to involve not only her cousin George but also her parents.

"My darling, don't you think that this donkey looks a little bit like your father?" asked Tom.

"Tom! Although…"

Sybil stepped closer to the picture, but so did her daughter. Evelyn started to look at the picture carefully, trying to find some resemblances between her grandfather and the animal and, much to her surprise, after a while that she was staring at it she did find some similarities.

"YES!" she screamed happily as she looked to her father "Look alike. Grandpa is donk" she stated seriously.

Tom and Sybil looked at each other, the question _What have we done? _remained unspoken but it was what they were both thinking about it. They didn't really think about the event until the following week Evelyn started to call Robert donk, without giving any explanation for it. When it happened Sybil had to hold back a giggle, and Tom tried to keep a blank face both of them pretending that they had nothing to do with it.


End file.
